International law’s role in governing disasters is undergoing a formative period in its development and reach, in parallel with concerted efforts by the international community to respond more effectively to the increasing number and intensity of disasters across the world. This Research Handbook examines a broad range of legal regimes directly and indirectly relevant to disaster prevention, mitigation and reconstruction across a spectrum of natural and manmade disasters, including armed conflict.

The editors take a broad, encompassing approach to the concept of disaster, concluding that a new corpus of international disaster law may be emerging. Key contributions interweave a number of key themes from an international law perspective across a wide range of discrete topics as diverse as water, food and energy security, dispute settlement, protection of vulnerable groups, cyber terrorism, international criminal law, climate change migration and international economics and trade law. This comprehensive study makes an important contribution to international law scholarship governing disasters, which in the past has largely focused on disaster response and relief law.

The different perspectives incorporated in this Research Handbook are likely to appeal not only to students and academics, but equally to governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental actors drawn across the crisis, conflict and disaster management sectors.